The King Sejong Station is a research station for the Korea Antarctic Research Program that is named after

King Sejong the Great of Joseon Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do (Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great (Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initial ...

(1397–1450). Established on February 17, 1988, it consists of 11 facility buildings and two observatories, and it is located on the

Barton Peninsula Barton Peninsula is a small peninsula separating Marian Cove and Potter Cove at the southwest end of King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1963 for Colin Barton ...

( King George Island), it is currently overseen by station chief scientist In-Young Ahn. It experiences a fairly mild climate subsequently drawing many animals for summer breeding. In the summer, the station supports up to 68 people, including scientists and staff from the

Korea Polar Research Institute Established in 2004, the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) is the lead agency for South Korea's national polar programme for the Arctic and the Antarctic and an advisor to the Government of South Korea. Its research projects have focused on bio ...

and guest scientists from other institutions as well. Over winter, it accommodates only 22 engineers and scientists who maintain the station and routinely collect data (meteorological records, oceanographical parameters, etc.), but their main focus is on tracking the general change of the natural environment. Researchers from Korea continually collaborate with various other institutes in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

and the rest of the world by participating in, monitoring, and contributing to the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internati ...

, the Global Sea-level Observing System, the International Seismological Center, and the Intermagnet Project. The station is usually re-supplied yearly by the

RV Onnuri RV ''Onnuri'' is one of the Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI)'s research vessels. She was built in Bergen, Norway in 1991 by Mjellem & Karlsen Verft AS and designed by Skipsteknisk AS. She has been used to supply Korea's Ant ...

and more frequently by planes flying from Jubany in Argentina and the Chilean Eduardo Frei Base. The RV ''Araon'' was commissioned in 2009, and she supplies South Korea's research stations, including the

Jang Bogo Station The Jang Bogo Station in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica is a permanent South Korean research station. It is the second base of South Korean Antarctic research mission (after King Sejong Station), and the first that is located in mainland Antarctica. ...

Research

The primary research that is conducted at the King Sejong Station: *Environmental monitoring *

Geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

ping *

Geomagnetic Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic fi ...

observations (since 1989) *

Glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, climato ...

- sea ice zone (since 1998) *

Ionospheric The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays a ...

/auroral observations (since 1989) *Lower/upper

atmospheric science Atmospheric science is the study of the Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climat ...

Meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

observations *

Oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

*Offshore

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

*Onshore

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

Seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

* Stratospheric ozone monitoring (since 1998) * Terrestrial biology * Tide measurement

In popular culture

The station is used as a basis for the major tournament map King Sejong Station LE in the game of '' StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm'', a game that is popular amongst South Koreans.

References

External links

Official website of the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI)

Introduction of the King Sejong Station in the Official website of KOPRI

COMNAP Antarctic Facilities

COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map
{{Authority control Outposts of the South Shetland Islands South Korea and the Antarctic King George Island (South Shetland Islands) 1988 establishments in Antarctica Sejong the Great

Research

In popular culture

See also

References

External links